Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day (Old English:
Cristesmæsse, literally "Christ's mass")
is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus
Christ, celebrated generally on December 25 as a
religious and cultural holiday by billions of people
around the world. A feast central to the Christian
liturgical year, it closes the Advent season and
initiates the twelve days of Christmastide. Christmas
is a civil holiday in many of the world's nations,
is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians,
and is an integral part of the Christmas and holiday
season.

The original date of the celebration in Eastern
Christianity was January 6, in connection with Epiphany,
and that is still the date of the celebration for
the Armenian Apostolic Church and in Armenia, where
it is a public holiday. As of 2012, there is a difference
of 13 days between the modern Gregorian calendar
and the older Julian calendar. Those who continue
to use the Julian calendar or its equivalents thus
celebrate December 25 and January 6 on what for
the majority of the world is January 7 and January
19. For this reason, Ethiopia, Russia, Ukraine,
Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia, and the Republic
of Moldova celebrate Christmas on what in the Gregorian
calendar is January 7; all the Greek Orthodox Churches
celebrate Christmas on December 25.

Support Us99.9% of our photos are FREE! You can download and use them for your school or personal projects, blogs, and online forums—for NO CHARGE (with just a few photos costing only $3.00 to download).